Keeper
by FanfictionWriter83729
Summary: Dark fic, 07Movieverse, not 09 compliant, no longer a oneshot. Starscream takes a small Decepticon, barely hatched, under his wing. How unfortunate…
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **do not own Transformers.

**Summary: **Dark fic, 07Movieverse, not 09 compliant, oneshot. Seekers are famous for their instinctive programming to protect and nurture their young. Starscream takes a Decepticon, barely hatched, under his wing. How unfortunate…

**Warnings: **Violence, youngling abuse

**Rated: **T

**Author note: **This is a combination of katsuko and drharper's plot bunnies over at lj. Thanks you two! I hope y'all enjoy the mutated offspring of their bunnies.

* * *

Keeper

"Don't look at me like that," Thundercracker said to the struggling, smaller being who was attempting to escape his grip. "We told you this would happen." He walked calmly down the hallways of the seeker base, ignoring the sounds of protest coming from his charge.

"What's going on?" Skywarp asked, coming across this display, a cube of high-grade in hand. At the sight of the other seeker, the small mech ceased struggling and let Thundercracker carry him undisturbed. Skywarp grinned. "Starscream's little one refusing to eat again?"

"Yeah. Get the door, will you?"

Skywarp punched in the code, and the door opened to what was dubbed a "feeding room," in that it was the centre that "fed" into many other corridors. One of the many doors lead to the cluster of dronelings, still not yet hatched. Three of the other doors lead directly to each trine alpha's private quarters.

Thundercracker entered the darkened room with his burden, walked up to a table tucked away in a corner, and set him down on a perch. "Be good," he said sternly. He was answered with an angry chirrup. He walked out, and joined Skywarp at the entrance way. He swiped the cube of high-grade and chugged it down.

"Hey!"

"Mute it. You didn't have to deal with that little terror all orn."

The door closed, and the locks were reset, though the door panels were so high that he wouldn't be able to open the door even if he knew the codes. The voices continued, muffled, down the hall.

"Serves you right for trying. You know he only eats for Starscream," Skywarp said.

"Can't help but be worried when one so young doesn't eat…"

"That's what high-grade is for. Drown out those pesky instinct-program lines."

"Maybe we should stay with him," Thundercracker said doubtfully.

"Nah. He'll be good. Besides, there ain't nothing in there that he can break like last time, and he learned his lesson. You know how Starscream is."

The subject of their conversation waited until the footsteps had safely faded away, and then he got up slowly. He slid off from the high perch—made for a fully-upgraded seeker, not a being whose design was only half as large—landed on the ground, wincing slightly, and looked around. Shoulders sagged in relief when he saw the wide window at the far end of the room, past all the doors, framing the stars.

He ran up to the window eagerly, looking hungrily to the view outside the ship. Red optics glowed softly, and his gaze flitted from one part of the open space to the next, before settling on a small blue planet in the distance.

He stayed like that for a long time, and the only sound in the room other than his own internal workings was the tapping of his fingers against the glass. Somewhere outside filtered the voices of other seekers, lesser members of lesser trines, but he ignored them. The moment of reprieve was shattered when a combination of tones filled the air, the sound of a door being unlocked, and the doors at the opposite end of the room slid to the side.

Then there came the sound of footsteps, slow and heavy, coming towards him. He started to look back, but then forced himself to turn away, palm pressing against the window.

"Creating more trouble, are you, Descent?" Starscream asked, standing a little behind him, a large cube of pure energon in his grasp.

The being did not answer, and instead stared intently at the sky and stars and that blue marble of a planet in the far distance.

"Descent." The voice was sharper this time around.

"That isn't my name," he answered quietly, before tearing his gaze away from the window to look at his keeper, red optics bright. "That isn't my name," he said, louder this time.

"Oh?" Starscream chuckled warmly, like he was hearing a favourite joke. "What is your name, then?"

He continued in his defiant stance, but ultimately his optics dimmed and he broke visual contact with his keeper, and instead stared out the window yet again. His thoughts were betrayed by his trembling fingers as he unconsciously stroked the gouges in the armour of his shoulder, healing somewhat but still fresh.

Starscream smiled the warm smile of a parent whose child has made an accomplishment.

"There, now," he said, and the young one cringed as Starscream approached him, a hand coming down and resting heavily at his other shoulder. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" He brought the cube of fresh energon in front of the young one's optics. "Drink," he said. Quietly, systems awakened in anticipation, waiting for just a little sip. Red lights brightened and optics widened in interest though the owner of the optics shied away from the cube.

"It hasn't been tainted, if that's what you're worried about," Starscream said casually, and he made a show of taking a small drink. "You haven't eaten," he said, holding out the energon cube yet again.

"That isn't good, especially for someone as young as you. Drink," he repeated, his voice soft and coaxing.

And the small mech lifted a hand tentatively, reaching out for the offered cube…

And then he angrily pushed it away. The energon cube flew out of Starscream's hand and went clattering to the floor. The contents spilled and hissed before the bright pseudo-liquid turned grey as all the energy became wasted.

Starscream looked calmly at his charge, head tilted slightly. A glimmer of fear passed over his charge's optics and he gave a small, almost unnoticeable shudder. Then he set back his shoulders, straightened, turned around, and looked at his keeper straight in the optics.

There was silence.

Then Starscream hit him.

He got up quickly and tried to back away, but Starscream was advancing. "How dare you?" he roared. "You ungrateful little _glitch!_" He hit him again, and his head snapped to the side from the force. He staggered, and regained his balance. "I saved you from the enemy, accepted you despite your inferiority, welcomed you to my trine, I call you my own though you were born nothing more than a spark-less drone!" He was backed against a corner, and Starscream's claws dug into his shoulder and then he pushed him roughly to the side. He hit the adjacent wall with a yelp, crawled to the side and got back up again, trying to keep from being pinned to the wall another time.

"I offer you a form only second to our own, I protect you from the outside world, I even gave you the energon running through my own wires when there was not enough! There was nothing I would have done for you, and yet this is how you repay me?" The final blow sent the young one spinning and stumbling before he crumpled to the ground, and he did not get back up again.

Starscream glared at him, his optics glowing a bright, murderous red while the optics of his charge flickered, and then dimmed, the red light glowing so weakly that the optics were almost dark. Then Starscream straightened, and the glow of his optics lessened, and when he spoke, his voice had returned to a low, rough murmur.

"Descent," he said, his patient tone having just a hint of disappointment. He got down on one knee, and his fingers curved inward so that the talons were pointed away from the delicate frame. Gently, he wiped away a thin line of processed energon that leaked from one of his charge's optic sockets. "Why do you make me hurt you?"

The only answer was a weak groan, and the whirring of systems as they tried to recover and to bring the small mech back to consciousness.

Then Starscream gathered him up gently in his arms, and then took him into one of his personal quarters. Getting into the recharge berth, he balanced the small, still stunned mech in his lap.

"You haven't eaten," he said again, as though whatever happened in that dark room before, in the room with the wide window and promise of open space, never happened. "That isn't good, for someone as young as you."

Starscream exposed some wiring in his own arm, and made a tiny slit in it. A small trickle of processed energon came forth, and Starscream presented this improvised source of food to the smaller mech, who was beginning to come to.

Optics opened fully in realization of what was happening. He pushed the offered arm away, and tried to escape Starscream's grasp, but Starscream held firmly. He tried once again to refuse, but a combination of hunger and the seeker's force won out in the end.

Optics dimmed, he finally sipped from the offered vein, while Starscream carefully rocked him and cradled him, humming to him a little seeker lullaby.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **do not own Transformers.

**Fic rating: **T, violence

**Summary: **Dark fic, 07Movieverse, not 09 compliant, no longer a oneshot. Starscream takes a small Decepticon, barely hatched, under his wing. How unfortunate…

**Author note: **1) After some consideration, I lowered the rating of this fic to "T." It didn't seem...violent enough for M, and I didn't want to be misleading. But if anyone feels otherwise, feel free to say so! And 2) Yep, after quite a while, I finally picked up this ugly bunny again...Guess I didn't like leaving "Descent" writhing in pain after all. Instead, I'm going to make him suffer a bit more before getting someone to come and try to save his sorry aft. :( I'm too soft on these characters.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Keeper

**2**

Red optics flickered as the one who was called Descent groaned, and his internal programs hummed, trying to catalogue the damage and trying to calculate how much time had passed since he'd slipped into recharge. He got up a little unsteadily from the berth, and ended up falling on hands and knees on the floor. He winced, and then shook his head, and stood up, staggering a bit...and then he doubled over, his hands going around his throat.

"Blood," he murmured dazedly.

He appeared to want to cough, or retch, but of course that was out of the question. He steadied himself, straightened up, and frantically looked around. He made his way to one wall of the room, hands resting against the layer of metal covering the window. "Damn it," he said. "Still closed." His gaze lingered almost fearfully at the door to the left, as though expecting Starscream to open it any moment, but he relaxed when he saw the other door.

He walked up to the door, always keeping the door to the left at the edge of his viewing screens, and his spark giving a funny pulse. It would almost always be locked from the outside, but sometimes—

And then it slid to the side.

His optics widened in shock. "No way," he said. "I am not this lucky." He had good reason to believe that. But, not one to let a rare opportunity go to waste, he went out the door, and into the halls, sticking to the shadows.

It was strangely empty. He strained to hear the members of the alpha trine. "Thundercracker," he murmured, coming upon that familiar frequency. "There's the least of the three evils accounted for. But where's the other two?"

A sound at the other end of the hall interrupted his searching. It wasn't Starscream or Skywarp, he knew that. Silently, he went to the source of the sound, and found two seekers whose names he didn't know and would likely never know talking to one another.

"-wants us on patrol."

"Patrol what? The only thing here is dirt and rock. Why in the great fires of the Pit did we come here anyway?"

"Lord Starscream wanted to check out this planet. Something about an emergency beacon. Whatever. Who cares what we're doing here? Do you really want to pass up a chance to go outside? Do you know how long we've been cooped up on this stupid ship?"

They started heading out, still talking to one another.

They had landed somewhere. They had actually stopped their aimless wandering of space and had landed somewhere.

A rare smile graced his features. Keeping silent, and keeping to the shadows, he followed the two _outside..._

And was greeted with an alien, rust-red planet, underneath a green sky. Feelings of confusion, disappointment, and something like recognition each passed quickly.

He slipped away from the two oblivious seekers, and transformed, landing briefly on all fours before stumbling. He got up, shook off the sand, stretched, and walked around slowly in a circle, occasionally tripping over his feet but getting back up again.

He became sure of his steps quickly, once the feel of his alt-form once again became familiar to him. "Just like old times," he said, jumping lightly and being very pleased with himself when he landed properly.

Then he ran on all fours across the terrain, leaping over the scars of the planet, becoming a blur against the red sands, grey-silver lines held against darker metal glinting in the moonlight. He ran as fast as he was able, away from the ship. It was colder here than he was used to, but the cold didn't bother him anymore. The rush of this planet's air against his frame felt pleasant, and the feeling of earth, for lack of better term, against his feet was refreshing after who knew how long of being trapped on that ship.

The seeker ship was soon a tiny dot in the distance. He kept running, not knowing how far he'd be able to get before someone realized that he was gone. He enjoyed his momentary freedom so much that it was easy for him to forget that he'd once cursed this second form. He just wanted to run, and to keep on running...

But then he had to stop suddenly, barely catching himself in time, as the ground underneath gave way to...well, to nothing.

Backing away from the edge, he shifted back into his more familiar bipedal form, and overlooked the edge of the crater. "That would have been a nasty fall," he muttered. "Okay, class," he continued mockingly. "What have we learned today? Earth's gravity, more or less, still applies here. Okay, what can we take from that? That we're definitely not on Mars. So where the hell are we? We can't be that far away, can we?"

He sighed, and looked upward. His programs had woken him automatically, so it must have been night-time. Nocturnal life had been strange to get used to, but you couldn't change what you were. He couldn't remember the last time he even caught a glimpse of a planet up-close, so he'd have to give this place a benefit of the doubt. He couldn't see any sun, though logic dictated that there must have been one around. The only light that illuminated the red sands came from the stars and the three moons in the sky, and, looking past those, he saw it. It was so small, and so indistinguishable from the other lights surrounding it that he couldn't say how he could tell, but he knew that that tiny light was that ever-faithful blue planet. "I'm coming back," he murmured. "So don't think I'm dead, 'kay?" He reached up tentatively, as though if he reached far enough, he could actually touch it.

Then the scream of a jet engine tore through the air, the alien sky experiencing thunder without lightning. He flinched at the sound. He tore his gaze from the skies and whirled around, facing the direction of his prison. "Too late to run," he said, seeing the dark shape in the distance coming closer at an alarming rate. Despite his words, his programs were running frantically, his scans were looking for a place to hide, and his processor was already mid-way through a transformation command. He and his body relaxed marginally when he saw which seeker it was.

The being was slightly smaller than Starscream, and his frame, silver tinged with blue, glinted slightly in the moonlight. Thundercracker transformed into bipedal mode in mid-air, the engines running silently at his back and at his legs keeping him aloft. "Descent," he said, looking down at him tiredly. "You know, I told Starscream that you'd behave while he was gone. I told him you'd behave yourself enough to be trusted with unlocked doors. Do you really want me to have to tell him otherwise?"

He was momentarily shocked. "So that's why..." he said quietly. Then he shrugged, glaring at the seeker. "That isn't my name," he replied loudly. His voice seemed small, though, as he stood before this giant, in the vast emptiness of this alien planet. He then turned his back, and started to walk away, even though both of them knew that there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Thundercracker effortlessly flew in front of him, hovering just a metre above the ground, forcing him to stop.

"Be careful, Descent," Thundercracker said, his head tilted to one side. "There are those who aren't as nice as I am. If you talked to Starscream like that, he'd pound you to the ground and rip out your vocal processors."

The youngling merely glared at him again, sidestepped and kept walking. Thundercracker hovered higher in the air, did a lazy back flip above the crater, and then continued to hover slowly, keeping in pace with the smaller being.

"You know what the problem is?" he said conversationally. "The problem is that you're spoiled."

"_What?_" he demanded, not stopping in his futile trek.

"You heard me. You're the first young one we've had in a long time, so everyone would have doted on you anyway. But when Starscream adopted you, you were given so high a rank that you don't know what it's like, being a seeker, having to climb up and earn your place." There was nothing cruel or mean-spirited in Thundercracker's voice; he said these things like he was merely pointing out simple facts of life.

"It's not like I asked him to," his charge hissed. "I was born 'less than a spark-less drone,' as he put it, and I would have been happy to live and die that way."

"Sure you would have," Thundercracker said, hovering in a circle around his charge, looking at him with a critical optic. "I don't believe you. No one could be happy being one of those things; the body that you have now is an improvement. Not that great of a step up, but still good."

"And now you want to rip me apart and stitch me back together, is that it?"

"Now, don't be like that," Thundercracker said. "You know that the change won't happen without your consent-" He was answered with a small, disbelieving noise, but Thundercracker continued regardless. "And I don't see what your problem is, anyway. A rotorcraft form isn't as good as a seeker frame, but you're too small for anything else, so unless you never want to fly and want to be stuck on the ground and dirt for the rest of your life-"

The smaller being abruptly stopped in his tracks, and Thundercracker had to double back, and once again hovered in front of him.

He was glaring up at him yet again, and Thundercracker's shoulders slumped. This time, he powered down his engines and actually did land, wincing a bit at the alien feeling of dirt hitting his feet. He bent down, not quite at optic-level, and said, "You can't tell me that you actually like being a ground-pounder."

"So what if I do?"

"You younglings," he said, in the most soothing voice he could pull off. "You have such strange ideas. Your form now is far inferior to what you are being offered. Upgrading yourself would be what is best."

"I didn't ask for 'what's best,'" the youngling snapped, his optics bright. Thundercracker's optics shuttered in surprise. "I was _happy _being the person I was. I didn't ask to be this way! I didn't ask for _any _of this! When this first happened, the only thing I got to keep was my name; the only thing I got to choose was this form. Starscream already took away one, and I'm not letting him take the other. So you can take your 'upgrades' and stuff them up your-"

"Yes, you definitely have to watch what you say," Thundercracker said, sighing. "One of these days Starscream'll get angry enough to rip out your vocalizers."

The youngling shook his head. "There's just no use, is there?" he asked, now quiet. "Because no matter what I say, or what I believe, it won't make a difference."

There was a long stretch of silence, broken when Thundercracker said, "We'll talk about this another time. You've had your fun. Now let's go home, hm? If we get back quickly enough, Starscream won't have to know you've ever been gone." He reached out a hand. The smaller being looked at the offered claws, and backed away almost immediately. Thundercracker straightened, knowing very well what was going to happen next.

He wouldn't be able to escape. The terrain was completely open. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, and even on all fours and at full speed, he wouldn't be able to outpace Thundercracker.

He bolted, transforming even as he ran.

Thundercracker took to the air, hovering in place for a moment, just looking as the small form bounded across the red sands. "I'm too soft on him," he muttered to himself. "Okay, kid. Five, four, three, two, one. Time's up."

Then he transformed, and went after him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **do not own Transformers.

**Chapter warnings: **violence towards a youngling in the beginning

* * *

Keeper

**3**

Deep inside the base, Thundercracker and Skywarp were leaning against the wall of a darkened hallway, facing a closed door. From within that room, they heard the thump against the wall, accompanied by a muffled yelp.

They looked at each other. "I guess I shouldn't have told him," Thundercracker said.

"A little too late for 'I guess,'" Skywarp replied, optics looking tiredly to the ceiling. "You should have just left him out there to starve. Maybe then he'd have actually learned something."

Thundercracker looked at him, aghast. "That would have been cruel."

There was a sharp sound of metal against metal, and the sound of a body hitting the floor. The youngling gave a weak moan before Starscream hit him again.

"You'd think that he'd have learned to stay down when hit," Skywarp said. "It just makes Starscream angrier when he doesn't." He looked at Thundercracker, who was looking worriedly at the door.

"Maybe we should go in..."

"That's your problem, T.C.," Skywarp said. "You're at the whim of your stupid instincts. They're just thoughts in your head. You ought to ignore them now and again, especially when they're telling you to do something as suicidal as to interfere." Thundercracker continued looking at the door, and Skywarp added, "Ah, whatever. Don't get your wires in a knot over it. Starscream would've found out anyway. There's always someone trying to get his good graces. Remember, better the kid than you. Besides, pulling stunts like this, he's pretty much asking for it."

Thundercracker stayed silent, and they heard a small, quivering voice say, "That's not my name."

"Then what is your name?" they heard Starscream say, his tone completely bored.

The youngling managed, "My name is-" before being abruptly cut off. They heard a pained, strangled sound, and then came the calm, low murmur of Starscream's voice as he attempted to re-teach yet another lesson.

"And we're back to this old argument again," Skywarp said. "Yep, he's definitely asking for it."

Thundercracker sighed. "I don't understand why he can't just behave. He _knows _Starscream hates it when he brings it up. And I don't understand his attachment to his inferiority. His inferior form, his inferior allegiance, even his inferior _name._"

"He's young," Skywarp said simply. "They ain't really bright at that stage."

"It's a burden on our programming," Thundercracker said after awhile. "To care so much for the young." Starscream's rough murmur continued to come from the room. They didn't hear anything else from the other occupant. "You better go check on Skyfire," Thundercracker sighed. "I'll stick around."

"Done," Skywarp said, rolling his optics. "More entertaining than this, anyway."

**X x x**

_Skyfire, _he heard Airrazor laugh.

_Skyfire, _he heard Tigerhawk call. _Where'd you go? _

_You're not real, _Skyfire thought. _You're not real. _

They could stand the emptiness of space. They could stand being exiles, they could stand knowing that they'd never see Cybertron again. They were never pained by the price of being omegas, as long as they had each other.

But then...that all changed, didn't it? The battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons reached past Cybertron. Wrong planet, wrong place, wrong time. That was all it took.

Sometimes, if he just flew far enough, if he just flew quickly enough, the world around him became just a stretch of endless white sands, and the sounds all around him melted into silence. It was there that he thought that he could hear them, calling to him.

_Skyfire, _Airrazor laughed.

_Skyfire, _Tigerhawk called.

_Wake up._

Skyfire's optics opened, scarlet light glowing brightly. He got up with difficulty, and looked around. Silver walls surrounded him. He was at one end of the room, and the berths between him and the exit leading into a shadowed hall were empty.

_Hopsital? _he thought. Gingerly, he got out of the berth. He winced as his metal and wires protested the movement. It was as though he hadn't moved in a long time. He looked down at himself, confused and more than a little disturbed. His armour was covered in gashes and scrapes and cracks, the wiring showing in some places. Looking carefully, he could see several sealed energon leaks.

What was going on?

He reached the exit, leaning against the wall for support. His hand accidentally pressed against a button on the wall. He looked over, startled, as one side of the room began rising, metal sliding upwards to reveal a large window underneath.

He looked, and saw a planet of red sands and three moons on the other side of the window.

_Ship? _

He looked around frantically. _Autobots? This can't be an Autobot ship..._ His spark trembled at the thought.

"Look who's finally awake," said a voice. "The deltas did a decent job; you actually look like a seeker again." Skyfire jumped. Another seeker was leaning against the door frame. It was as though he had suddenly popped out of nowhere. Skyfire recoiled.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice coming out shakier than he would have liked.

The newcomer's grin widened. "Aw, Skyfire. What's wrong? Can't remember an old buddy?"

Skyfire's optics widened. "Skywarp?"

"The one and only. Now are you going to start asking pesky questions like 'where am I?' 'what is this place?' 'what vorn is it?' and all that stuff?"

"I'd very much like to know," Skyfire managed after a pause.

"I ain't telling," Skywarp said carelessly. "That'd spoil the surprise. 'Sides, Starscream wanted to talk to you."

"Starscream?" Skyfire asked, feeling relieved.

"Duh. He's the one who ordered that your sorry aft be rescued and repaired." Skywarp was still smirking. "Myself, I would have left you in the ice."

Skyfire decided to ignore that. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Don't know," Skywarp said, his red optics glinting in the light of the planet. "Starscream somehow found your emergency beacon and dragged us here. We found you frozen up in the poles at this place. What did you do, crash land?"

Skyfire frowned. He remembered...trying to fly quickly enough, far enough...

_I must have made a mistake, somewhere..._

"And where are Airrazor and Tigerhawk?" Skywarp asked.

Skyfire's attention snapped back to him. A wave of grief swept over him. He struggled to find the words, and said, "They're gone."

A strange look passed over Skywarp's faceplate. "Oh."

"I'm sorry."

"Huh, what for?"

"Tigerhawk was your mentor, wasn't he?"

"Oh yeah. Him," Skywarp said, waving him away. "It's alright." He was already grinning again.

Skyfire looked carefully at him. It made him angry, somehow, that Skywarp didn't seem to care when his own spark was still torn asunder...

_But alphas are not meant to care about their omegas. Alphas do not answer to anyone._

He buried his rising emotions. Tigerhawk...would have approved of this. He forced himself to listen to what Skywarp was saying.

"Anyway," Skywarp said. "Starscream would have come himself, except he ran into a little bit of a problem. But now we know," he said in a sing-song tone and giving Skyfire an exasperated look. "Youngling plus unlocked door plus unguarded exit equals escape attempt. An equation that never fails." He smiled at Skyfire's mystified expression. "The joys of raising a youngling."

"I need to see Starscream," Skyfire said after a pause, and attempted to get past Skywarp. But although the seeker was smaller than he was, Skywarp still managed to push him aside.

"Not like that, you aren't," he said, continuing his patronizing tone. "I'll tell his greatness that you're awake, you're going to finish getting repaired. Not that I care, by the way," he added, as though Skyfire could ever mistake his nonexistent concern. "But Starscream did make it pretty clear that he'd have my innards if you came to him looking like you lost a fight with a cyber-hound."

As if on cue, another seeker came forth from the halls, and led Skyfire back into the room.

"But..."

"See you later, Skyfire," Skywarp said, already heading down the hall and not bothering to look back.

**X x x**

Skyfire towered over even alphas, but the seeker who was repairing him—Aerial—was on the opposite end of the design table. As a delta, he barely looked taller than the protoform model most seekers were sparked in, and had the minimum of upgrades. His sleeker form would have flown easier in the air in comparison to the bulkier forms of beta and even gamma seekers, though he would not been able to fly as quickly or as far. His nimble fingers, unburdened by upgrades, were quick at their repairs.

He ran tests on Skyfire's programs to make sure that they hadn't sustained damage. Then he replaced Skyfire's scratched and battered armour, sealing it atop Skyfire's primary metal layer that housed wires pumping with energon. "I apologize," he said quietly. "That I hadn't done so sooner, but I thought it would be better to begin when you were awake. We finished the most crucial of repairs to bring you out of stasis-lock, but some of your programs still needed to be tested for abnormal function, and your self-defence programs might have reacted badly to the change while unconscious."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Skyfire said. "I can only thank you for repairing me."

Aerial paused in his work, looking slightly confused, as though he wasn't used to being thanked, before choosing to carefully ignore Skyfire's comment.

Skyfire looked down at his shoulder. The dark Decepticon insignia at his right shoulder stood out from the silver metal. "I thought that the seekers declared their neutrality," he remarked.

"You must have been trapped there for a very long time," Aerial said mildly in answer, finishing up. "Those were the former alphas. Shortly after our current alphas took over, our flock swore allegiance to the Decepticons, and many others followed suit, especially when Lord Starscream became the second-in-command of the Decepticon army. There are those, however, who chose to join the Autobots. Neutrality is hard to come by these orns; I doubt any neutrals exist anymore."

Skyfire' looked once again at the Decepticon insignia, not sure of what he felt about that. _But at least we are not with the Autobots..._

"But if there were any neutrals left," Aerial continued. "I have no doubt that they, too, would have joined the Decepticons, now that Starscream is leader..."

"Starscream is the Decepticon leader?" Skyfire asked, surprised. "I did not know that Megatron had been terminated."

"Megatron...had vanished for quite some while," Aerial said slowly. "During that time, the loyalty of the Decepticons were divided, each swearing allegiance to a different high-ranking member. Though Lord Starscream was second-in-command, there were others who had equal influence, others who claimed that Megatron still lived. But now that his termination has been confirmed, one can only imagine how power will now be divided." He looked at Skyfire, his gaze strangely piercing. "Lord Starscream is the rightful leader, of course," he added. "But I do foresee some difficulty ahead. For now, the Decepticon army is...quite leaderless."

Skyfire's optics widened. He knew the consequences of alpha-less seekers; he could only imagine what the effects were on a large group that was countless times larger than even the largest flock in seeker history, which numbered twelve trines, a staggering thirty-six seekers. Starscream's flock was currently the largest in existence, with twenty-four seekers.

"You're all set," Aerial said, stepping back. He then winced, his optics closing. He tilted his head a bit, as though he was listening to a voice only he could hear.

"Are you alright?"

But Aerial did not answer him. "Understood," he murmured, his optics dim. Then he looked back at Skyfire. "Lord Starscream will see you now," he said, and helped him up.

The walk to where Starscream was seemed long, hallway after hallway, shadow after shadow, maze within maze. The ship was expansive...or perhaps only seemed that way. Skyfire wondered how the seekers' claustrophobia withstood having to be in this base as it endlessly wandered. He could hear the sounds of full-grown seekers going about their business...but something was amiss. He couldn't hear the light murmurs at the back of his mind, the tell-tale frequencies of those too young to have their own mind-walls.

"Where are the young ones?" Skyfire asked. "I heard that the Allspark vanished, but..."

"Yes," Aerial sighed. "You've definitely been out for a long time."

Then he paused. "Forgive me," he continued, inclining his head. "Of course you would not understand our situation. After the Allspark disappeared, all our power was not enough to sustain the young ones. Pods and bodies are constantly being built and rebuilt all the time in anticipation. Without the Cube, rarely are we lucky enough to be granted phantoms of a new spark, and even then, all those we've had have faded within moments. I can only assume that other flocks have fared just as well."

"The situation is that bad?"

"I believe it speaks for itself." There was a pause, and the two seekers rounded another corner. "We haven't had young ones in a very long time...that is until..." Then he faced Skyfire, his smile strained. "Well, Lord Starscream will tell you all about that. Here we are," Aerial said, stopping suddenly. He inclined his head again, waiting at the side of the door.

Skyfire entered, and Aerial slipped in behind him.

To his right, one wall of the room consisted almost entirely of a wide window. Moonlight and starlight gently glowed upon an ocean of red sand, framed by an equally alien sky. To his left, the floor stopped abruptly to reveal many consoles on a lower floor, messages blinking on the screens even though the gammas who usually attended to such things were absent. Aerial stood at attention with his two other trine-mates at the edge of that floor.

And in front of him, sitting upon a throne, was Starscream.

Starscream had been slouched in his seat with a look of utter boredom, but he sat up straighter at Skyfire's entrance. One arm was draped over the armrest, and with the other arm, he carefully supported something...something sleeping.

Skyfire remembered, for some reason, a conversation from a long time ago...

_They had been granted a tiny hatchling. He was not made by the Allspark, so he had been weak, and the phantoms of his spark held precariously together. But oh, it held. He and Starscream had watched as the body animated, as the energon went from grey to purple as it was energized, as dark optics went bright. Then the tiny thing had hatched, the pod it was encased in having finished its task. He was a small, and light, barely three quarters of the size of his fully upgraded form and having none of the proper features of a seeker. Skyfire caught him before he fell, cleaned him up gently, and handed the young one over to Starscream, who held him carefully, his optics wide in wonderment. "One of the most important duties of an alpha," he had told Starscream, "is to protect the future. Listen to your instincts, and you will not be led astray."_

"Starscream," Skyfire greeted warmly. "Thank-you for rescuing me." Too late, Skyfire remembered that Starscream had long ago attained alpha status, and should be treated as such. Out of the edges of his viewing screens, he saw Aerial and his two trine mates looking at one another, probably wondering at Skyfire's disrespect.

Starscream did not acknowledge his gratitude, and the first words he said were,"Why did you leave?"

Skyfire's optics shuttered in surprise at the vehemence in Starscream's tone. "I...I was created to serve and protect you until you gained alpha status," Skyfire said, composing himself. He adopted a low, soothing tone that he hadn't used in a long time. "When that was accomplished, the elders acknowledged my obsolescence and I had to leave with my trine lest we disrupt the integrity of the new order. You no longer needed me."

Starscream's optics narrowed. "I didn't need you," he said. "But that doesn't change the fact that I wanted you here." He got up a little in his seat, and the being began to stir. He froze at the movement, and his expression softened as he looked down at his burden. Carefully, he gathered him up in both arms.

For a few spark pulses, every optic in the room was trained on the sight.

Starscream didn't even have to give an order for Aerial to come up next to him. He handed his charge over with great care.

"You know where to put him," he growled. Aerial inclined his head, and turned to leave. His two trine mates followed him. Skyfire barely caught a glimpse of red optics, flickering and looking blearily at him from over Aerial's shoulder before the owner of those optics was whisked away.

The doors shut behind them.

"Descent," Starscream said in way of explaining. "You will meet him later."

"Was that...a youngling?" Skyfire asked in surprise. "But I see that he is not a seeker..."

"We did not create him ourselves," Starscream said, answering the unspoken question. "But of course, you understand the burden of our programming; that we must care for the young even when they are not seeker-framed." He paused, and then tilted his head, looking at Skyfire piercingly. Skyfire's gaze remained respectfully on the floor at Starscream's feet. "I rescued Descent from the Autobots," he said finally. "He still bears scars from the experience."

"Forgive my ignorance, my lord."

Starscream's optics narrowed once again. "Don't 'my lord' me," he snapped. "It doesn't sound right, coming from you."

"Of course...Starscream."

Starscream regarded him in silence for a moment. "So now that you've thawed out, what are you going to do now?" he asked.

"I don't know," Skyfire said simply, honestly. "My trine is gone," -he pushed away another wave of pain, "-and, as a previous generation omega, I am obsolete-"

"You are _not _obsolete!" Starscream said, slamming his fist against the armrest. Skyfire fought the strange urge to take a step backward. "You're going to stay here," Starscream continued, more calmly this time. He settled down once more in his throne.

"But-"

"Are you going to disobey me?" Starscream asked, his voice suddenly quiet.

"No, Starscream," he said soothingly, remembering his place. "My loyalty has, and always will be, to you."

"Good," Starscream said. There was another pause, and then he said, "You're the only one I can trust."

"With what?" Skyfire felt compelled to ask.

"Descent," Starscream said simply. "The hatchlings. Betas and gammas couldn't deal with a youngling if it came with an instruction manual, and deltas can't be trusted for long with such important tasks. Thundercracker tries, but that fool can't even make sure that a youngling won't leave the safety of the base. We are at war, Skyfire," Starscream continued. "I can't be around all the time, and as incompetent as he is, I need Thundercracker. So you will stay here, and you will watch over the young ones for me, do you understand?"

No, Skyfire didn't quite understand. He'd only been awake for the past half orn after he didn't know how many vorns of being trapped.

But at least Starscream was here.

"Of course."

"Good," Starscream said. He paused for a moment, as if unsure of where to take the conversation. Vorns upon vorns ago, the younger Starscream would have pestered Skyfire, demanded to know where he had been, what he had seen...but Starscream was alpha, now. He could not act like a newly-sparked seeker. "Now go," he said finally. "I will call you when I need you. The deltas waiting for you outside the door will show you to your rooms."

Skyfire didn't know what to say, except, "As you command." He turned to go.

"Skyfire," Starscream said. Skyfire turned around again. "It's good to see you back. You took care of me, all those vorns. Now it's my turn."

Skyfire thought about how to answer, but Starscream was leaving, and the other seekers were already leading him away.


End file.
